‘Stand completely still or I’ll shoot you.’
‘Shoot us? Why not use magic?’
The man frowned. ‘You know very well why not, young lady. Name and ID number?’
‘Um, Joanna and I don’t know my number. I don’t think I have one. How about my exam number, I remember that.’
She gave him a winning smile that for some reason failed to impress him. He stalked across the space between them, eyes leaving her to look at Red. They opened a little wider as he took in the leather and the gorgeous face. Scarlet felt a pang of jealousy before Lara flashed through her mind. She bit her lower lip and stared at the gun.
Why hadn’t she argued? She should have told Lara’s dad to stop being a dick and deal with it. He had been there, it would have been easy. She looked at the gun. She had to get home safe because she was going to see Lara again. She was.
The man moved closer. Scarlet muttered from the corner of her mouth. ‘If I blind them can you take the gun?’ She almost burst out laughing. She was in some sort of spy movie. Only with magic. And Red Riding Hood. She giggled, earning herself an odd look from the man with the gun. Red touched her back and she took that to mean she could stop them.
She remembered the spell. It was one of the few she did. She began to mutter, casting as subtly as possible. The man with the gun was still staring at Red and didn’t spot her, at least not at first. Then the gun came up and he shouted something, but she was too deep into the spell and didn’t hear him.
The fog came like, well, a fog really, and in seconds the room was filled with it. She couldn’t see past her hand, couldn’t see anything. One of the men chanted, some sort of counter, but his voice cut off suddenly, following a dank thud. There were a couple more and a hand grabbed her arm.
Scarlet jumped, shrieking and was met by a dry chuckle. ‘It’s me.’
She let out a long breath, fanning her face with her hand. ‘Come on.’
Red pulled her along. Her foot caught something soft on the floor and her stomach turned over. ‘What did you do to them?’
‘Nothing they won’t recover from. Come, we need to find you.’
Red seemed to be dealing with the whole different dimension thing much better than she had. Not surprising really, what with the mad knife skills and leather and curves and… she blinked and pinched herself. They burst free of the fog and she stared at the girl next to her. Dammit, still gorgeous.
She needed to focus. Right, find Skinny. Leather. Skinny. She bit her lip and set off after the girl, working hard to keep her eyes on the back of her head. They entered another building and checked the board. The name jumped out at her and she yelped, hammering it with her finger.
‘There, it’s her, it’s her.’
Red nodded and they charged down the corridor. Up a couple of flights of stairs and to a room halfway down the hall. The door was the same as the gate outside and when Red turned the handle it swung open. Scarlet ran in and wrapped her arms around Skinny as she rose from the bed.
‘Oh my god, what are you doing here?’
The tone of her voice was half grateful, half accusing, all annoying. ‘Um, like, rescuing you.’
‘Oh, well, that’s stupid of you.’
She bit her lip and decided that she could be the better person. She wasn’t skinny, nor was she living in a world where everyone could do magic, but at least in her world they didn’t lock you up for no reason.
‘Scarlet, this is Red.’
The two smiled at one another and they turned to leave. Out the door, back down the stairs and they headed for the exit. She was almost there when the man with the gun lurched through the door. The blood running down his head was bright in the fluorescent light, but the hand and the gun he held in it were steady.
‘That was rude.’ She didn’t understand what he said next, it was a spell in a completely different language. She had just long enough to wonder whether it was from the spell book Martin had given her, before her limbs grew heavy. They were normally heavy, but now they felt like lead. She tried to lift a hand but nothing worked.
She squealed as her knees struck the floor and she fell face down. She barely felt the pain as her nose struck the ground, but the blood that oozed out was warm. She couldn’t move, not an inch. It was like waking up with a cat on your arm, only this was lots of cats, lying on every part of her. And there was none of warm cute fluffiness to go with it.
‘I don’t know who you are, nor do I care. The prisoner who is with you will be returned to her cell and you will be sentenced. You have made a grave mistake, young ladies.’
His foot steps clicked away. A few minutes later hands grabbed her and hauled her up. She was rested on her feet then two of them dragged her along the floor and out of the hanger. The sun was down and blue lights ran along both sides of the path back to the gate. The men dragging Red came past them and she saw her eyes burning in the darkness.
Outside a van waited and they were thrown in the back. Her chin was caked with blood but she couldn’t lift a hand to wipe it clean. The van pulled away and she slid across the floor, bumping against the doors. Red joined her there and they lay together in paralysis and misery. It felt like a fitting end to what had become a completely crappy day.
When the van stopped, the doors stayed closed. She tried her arm again and realised she could move it, just a little.
‘Red, spell’s wearing off.’
Red grunted. Scarlet tried again and moved a little more. Why were they still in the van? It was dark and entirely uncomfortable, but she still managed to slide into sleep.
What was it with opening doors around here? It slammed against the side of the van and jerked her awake. She groaned and covered her head. She covered her head. She could move!
She sat and stared around, blinking. The doors were open and a man stood outside and despite knowing it was pointless, she still cried ‘Martin.’ He raised an eyebrow and she blushed. Red was awake, sitting on the seat, her eyes fixed on Martin who wasn’t Martin. Scarlet sniffed, wondering if she looked terrifying enough to scare people away.
‘What do you want?’
‘The heads want to see you.’
‘Ooh, I’m important.’
‘Not yet. Who’s this?’
‘Just a friend.’
He folded his arms and waited. She beamed at him. She could wait. ‘What’s happened to Scarlet?’
Martin who wasn’t Martin shrugged. ‘Not my concern. Not yours either.’
‘I was sent on a mission to—’
‘You broke into a facility and injured two agents. Any rights you may have had are done with. Come with me.’
He walked away from the van and she went to scramble out. Red caught her arm. ‘We don’t want to go with him.’
‘Huh?’
‘He has death in his eyes.’
‘Oh.’
Red nodded solemnly. ‘We will not return. Can you still do the spell to take us away?’
‘Yeah, but I need to lay out the ingredients.’
‘I will buy you time.
‘What, now?’
Red was already moving and Scarlet jumped out the van after her. Martin who wasn’t Martin was waiting, arms still folded and Scarlet gasped as Red threw herself at him. He didn’t look ready but as she jumped his hand lashed out and caught her in the face. She flew back past Scarlet and hit the van with a crunch.
Martin who wasn’t Martin walked toward her and Scarlet glanced about. The van was parked in a dead end, tall grey buildings soaring on three sides. He cracked his knuckles and reached for her.
Next Installment Wednesday 23rd April
